Devices for permitting self-watering of animals, such as hogs, poultry and other small animals, are utilized extensively and are of many different variations. For example, many such watering devices utilize a ball check valve which is actuated by the animal for permitting opening of the device when water flow is desired. These devices are utilized particularly with very small animals, but even these devices have been less than satisfactory since leakage past the ball check valve due to improper seating thereof is a common occurrence. Often the ball valve has to be properly seated by use of a spring, which thus makes the valve more difficult to actuate than desired.
With many animals, specifically larger animals such as hogs, the watering device is conventionally of the nipple type. That is, the water supply line has a body fixed thereto, which body has an elongated valve element projecting outwardly therefrom. The inner end of this valve element is normally provided with an enlarged disklike head which is sealingly seated against a suitable O-ring, and a normally-closed sealed relationship is maintained by means of an internal spring. When the animal contacts the projecting stem or nipple of the valve element and displaces same sidewardly (that is, angularly), this tilts the valve head away from the O-ring, thereby breaking the seal and permitting controlled discharge of water only so long as the animal maintains the valve stem in a tilted condition.
While nipple-type waterers of this general type have been and still are extensively utilized, particularly for hogs, nevertheless the overall operation and durability of such waterers has been less than desired. For example, such devices normally can be made so as to not leak only by providing same with a rather heavy spring. However, this in turn makes the watering device more difficult to actuate and less sensitive with respect to the force required for opening the valve, such as if same is desired for use with a very small animal. Further, these conventional devices have not possessed a suitable and accurate capability of adjusting the spring tension so as to provide the valve with a closing or sealing force which has the desired sensitivity over a selected range. The spring also increases the size and complexity of the overall device, and the device also normally involves an undesirable number of individual components. These known waterers also normally employ metal valve components, and hence have a tendency to corrode.
In an attempt to improve upon such nipple-type watering devices so as to eliminate the requirement of an internal spring and thereby make the device more suitable for use with small animals, there has been developed a nipple-type waterer which utilizes a platelike perforated diaphragm of elastomeric material positioned so as to resiliently engage and stretch across the head of the valve stem. This diaphragm urges the valve head against an O-ring and normally maintains the valve stem in its closed position. While this development, examples of which are illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,550,560 and 4,258,666, has resulted in some simplification of the device and hence has met with at least some commercial acceptance, nevertheless even this device is still considered less than optimum. For example, with this device, the seal is effectively created only at a single location, namely between the valve stem head and the O-ring. Further, due to the thinness of the platelike elastic diaphragm, the device does not possess any significant adjustability with respect to the resilient force created for maintaining the valve in its closed position.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved valve device and in particular a watering device for animals such as poultry and hogs, specifically a nipple-type waterer, which improves upon the known type watering devices as described above.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved waterer which eliminates use of a conventional spring, but instead employs a resilient elastomeric plug which functions both as the spring and as the orifice member for regulating flow through the device. The elastomeric plug bears against the head of the valve stem and is threadably seated within the housing and adjustably positioned for varying the resilient closing force imposed on the valve stem with precise and sensitive adjustment occurring over a substantial range. In addition to the usual O-ring which creates the main seal between the housing and the front or outer side of the valve stem head, the elastomeric plug also has an annular sealing ridge thereon which creates a second area of sealed engagement with the rear or inner side of the valve stem head. Closure of the valve thus creates annular seal areas adjacent both the front and rear sides of the valve stem head, thereby providing a more positive seal and hence a substantially leak-proof valve, while at the same time permitting minimization of the resilient force required for closing and hence sealing the valve. Thus, the valve can have greater sensitivity so as to permit opening of same by very small animals. At the same time, the elastomeric plug possesses substantial durability so as to permit its use by small or large animals, such as hogs, with the valve being usable over a large number of cycles without fear of failure, and with the resilient plug being suitably adjustable to provide a higher closing force when use with larger animals is desired.
In addition to the structural and functional advantages of the improved valve of this invention, as explained above, this improved watering device is also desirable since it is of an extremely simple and compact structure, possesses a minimum number of components so as to permit its economical manufacture and assembly, and employs a nonmetal orifice member so as to resist corrosion.
Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to persons familiar with watering devices of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.